Children&#39;s behavior indicator



This invention relates dow, A the slide being Patented Jan. 21, 1947 UNITED STATESN PATENT 4^ OFFICE y Edward P. Shurick, Sr., Kansas City, Mo. Application January 11, 1945, Serial No. 572,370

to a device for inducing and maintaining the good conduct ofchildren.

Among the objects of the present invention is to provide a simpletype of device carrying the namesof one or more children and carrying ay lcorresponding daily actuatable indicator in association with legends corresponding to the day ,of the week Aand a suitable` prize arranged so that preferably the particular child-may keep a consecutive daily record of his own conduct during thejcourse of a week, the arrangement being such that if the child is deserving the device willl `discharge a prize for that particular child.

Yet another object of my invention resides in providing a behavior Aindicating device wherein one `or more children may daily actuate a meinber to progressively advancing position so that if good conduct is maintained, a merit or prize is released to the deserving child. Y

Yet another object of the invention resides in providing a device ofthe foregoing character having a plurality of substantially parallel guideways, each guideway having a manually shiftable in',- dicator therein, each indicator being constructed to be advanced, bythe child whose name is opposite the particular guide, each day according `to whether or not his `conduct has been of a. desired standard,- the guideway being of suflicient length to include stations for each day of the week so that the child who has the mostadvanced actuatable member will at the end ofthe week be entitled to receive a prize which is automatically delivered simply by advancing his own particular shiftable member to the last' day of the week. y l

Yet another object of the invention resides in providing a support member constructed of cardboard, metal,A plastic or other material, carrying a name plate for the names of one r morel children, and wherein the deviceincludesian elongated window opposite each name plate, there being a slide shiitable longitudinally of each winsubdivided into divisions corresponding to the days of the weekand'adapted to be moved longitudinally of the windowto a plurality of stations, each oneV in turn corresponding to the days of the week, the window being arranged in association with the slide to push .a prize such as a penny, a disk, or the like, along the window opening or guideway inadvance of the slide until the penny or prize reaches the end of the window or guidewayat which time it then drops into a chute or transversely disposed guideway which connects with` thej slide.- containing guideways, whereby 'to' deliver autofmetal, plastic or the like, which strips `jacent the Prizef-bearing the stars may be variantly The free, right hand end ,is preferably slotted to enable an operator to insert a pencil and push back `or, return each 6 Claims. (Cl. 35523) matically the prize to the one or more whose behavior has been exemplary throughout the entire wee or to the one whose conduct has been the most exemplary throughout the week.

Other and further objects of the invention will be apparent from a perusal of the following specification when taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a front View of one form of my device;

Figure 2 is a view away; and

Figure 3 is a View of one of the slides or longitudinally shiftable members.

Referring now to the drawing in detail, the device comprises essentially a supporting member 2 of generally rectangular shape which may carry on its front face as at 4, 6, B and Ill any desired type of indicia intriguing to children. Rigwith the cover plate broken idly and firmly mounted upon this support 2 is a framework I2 composed of strips of cardboard, are spaced apart as shown at I4, I6, I8 and 20. The top bar 20 extends as shown, from the end bar 2| to the opposite end, to be formed integrally with the vertical end bar 24 which bar at its bottom, as at 26, ends abruptly and is spaced from the end 2S of the lowermost bar lll. In addition, the bars I6 and 8 terminate as at 34 and 36 to provide in association with the vertical bar24 a vertical chute which communicates with the guidewavs formed by the adjacent parallel bars I4, I6, I8 .and 2l).

Between each pair of bars- I4 and i6, and I8 and 23, there are arranged the guideways 40, ,42, and 44, each guideway being longitudinally extending between the bars 2| and 24 and `being spaced apart by the bars I6 and I8 so that the guideways are parallel. Each one of .these slides is divided as at 50, 52, 54, 56, 58, 6.0 and 62 to provide seven indicia-bearing eldseach one corresponding to a day of the week. In addition, at its extremeright end, as viewed in Figure 3, there is carried an outstandingindicia-bearing projection 64 bearing theword Prize So also it bears the outstanding lug @t which is preferably glued to the surface of the plate or slide 4E adlabel 6. If desired, colored. In the present instance I have indica-ted each one as bearing a star which in turn may be diierently colcred.

of each guideway slide te itspriginal position with the `iaststar `ficiently far to the right so .the greatest number of good days the prize.

of the slide, that is the star furthermost to the right as shown in the drawing, underlying the column shown in Figure 1 of the drawing, and with the word Prize-carrying extension projecting into the first column 12 and marked 1, which is Monday, or the rst day of the week,Y on the front board or facing 16. This front board 15 is a separate piece and is glued or otherwise aflixedover thestrips |2I 1.4, I6, I8, 20, 2| and 24. This facing member 1G carries vertically spaced indicia-bearing zones 18, 8G, and 82, over which is written or printed the indicia My name is, and then the name of the particular child is written in the space or spaces 18, 80 and 82. There may be one Yor more-of these spaces, depending upon the number of children in the family and the size of vthelbehavior chart. This facing member 16 has a plurality of openings formed therein. One of the openings, to wit the bottommost one, is indicated at Se, the second one at 8G,^and` the third one at 88. These windows extend from the rst column 12 to the last column 86, and each column is provided at the left hand end with a notch 90, 62 and t4 into which moves the outstanding lug 6E on the side, as shown particularly in Figures 2 and 3.

This lug 66 forms a stop vfor the extreme movement to the left of -each slide in its guideway or slot. In addition, each window or slot at the right is provided with a correspondingly disposed notch or cut-out |00, |62 and |04, each of which likewise receives the lug |55 to limit the extreme movement to the right of each slide. As shown clearly in Figure l, each guideway is made so as to receive a coin, metal token, or cardboard disk, lor other article adapted to indicate the prize or Vtollen given, and when inserted therein, preferablythrough the front of the window, it will remain in the guideway until the particular slide of that guideway is moved sufas to push the coin into the vertical conduit or space |06 forming with the opposed end bar 24 a vertical chute, the bottom of which is opened as at |08 so that the coin is delivered by gravity into the open handof the waiting child. It will thus be seen that when the device is set with each slide so that the prize portion thereof is located with the lug 65 in the end notches S0, 92 and 94, if any particular child is good for that day he or his parent moves hisrslide one notch so that a first star shows opposite the one column. On the succeeding day if he is still good for that day, the slide is advanced another day until the first .star shows in the second column and another star shows in the first column. Thus that particular slide is advanced by that child daily until the lug 55 enters the notch to the right, such as |00, |02 and |94, at which time the slide will have progressed far enough to push the penny or other token or prize into the vertical coin chute .|36 which will deliver it at the outlet |98. Thus for eachday that'the chil'd'is good vone star is moved forward. If the child is good for seven days the penny or token or prize drops through the chute. `If one child is good four days, another three days, another five days, during one week, the guideway having the five stars may be moved forward until .the prize drops through the chute, thus giving the child having At the end of the week the chart is readjusted for a succeeding week and coins are again entered in theslotof the guideway through the windows.

'It is apparent that if desired, the windows may 4 be sealed, may have .a locked opening under control of the parent, and that the slides may be locked from operation but may be under the control of the parent who alone may actuate the slides daily for the children.

Many different arrangements may be utilized for carrying out the above invention. Attention is drawn to the .fact that the edges Ile, ||2 and ||t4 of the front piece 15 Ywill overlap the edges of the'guides in a suicient mannerto hold the coins in place in the guideways.

Obviously the invention is not limited to the particular details of construction shown, but is ycapable ofv other modifications and changes without departing .from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I vmember shiftable longitudinally of each said Vguideway to various stations therealong, each said guideway being fashioned to receive a prize rto be positioned in advance of the leading edge of Vsaid shiftable member whereby as said member is moved along said guideway it will correspondingly advance said prize and a common chute connected Ato the ends of all of said VVguideways adapted to receive said prize'when the shiftable member reaches a predetermined position along the length of said guidewaywhereby said prize is ejected from said guideway into said chute and whereby said chute delivers said prize.

2. In a device of the class described, in combination with a support, a series of parallel guideways on said support, the ends of all of said guideways terminating in and connected to a transversely disposed common chute, each of said guideways having a shiftable, manually actuated member therein, said guideway and the leading edge of said manually actuatable member being fashioned to receive a prize positionable in each guideway in advance of the leading edge ofthe correspondingmanually operable member whereby as any selected manually actuatable Amember is moved predetermined distances longitudinally of said guideway in the direction of the chute, the prize kwill be correspondingly moved until said prize is nally ejected into the chute for deliveryexternally of said support.

3. In combination with a support, means forming a plurality of substantially horizontal guideways thereon, a manually actuatable member horizontally shiftable in said guideway, said guideway being fashioned to receive a prize therein to be propelled by the leading edge of said manually actuatable member, means forminga common chute disposed substantially at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the guideway and connecting with the end of each said guideway, a facing member overlying the supportand guideway and vchute and having Aa window eX- guideways on said support, a manually shiftable member disposed in each guideway and adapted to be moved in desired increments therealong by a child selecting said shiftable member, said guideways and manually shiftable member providing competition in the manner of behavior among the several children operating said shiftable members, said guideway being adapted to receive a prize disposed therein in advance of the leading edge of each manually operable member, means providing a chute connecting with all of the discharge ends of the equivalent guideways, a facing member overlying the guideways and chute, said facing member being provided with a series of windows, one for each guideway, and being provided with suitable indicia for designating each guideway for a different child, said facing member having associated with the length of each guideway a series of stations, there being seven, one for each day of the week, and each manually shiftable member being provided with spaced indicia, one for each day of the week, means for propelling the manually shiftable member along the guideway for registering the successive indicia on the shiftable member with the successive days of the week, whereby as the leading edge of the shiftable member propels the prize past the station indicating the last day in the week, said prize is ejected into the chute for delivery to the operator.

5. In a device of the class described, in combination with a support, means forming a plurality of spaced apart, parallel guideways on said support, means forming a single transversely extending guideway connected to each one of said spaced apart guideways, a front plate for said support for covering said guideways and said connected guideway, said front plate having a series of openings therein registering with the space between each of said parallel guideways, a series of manually actuatable members, one mounted within each guideway and adapted to be shiftable therealong by a child selecting said shiftable member, said guideways and manually shiftable member providing competition in the manner of behavior among the several children operating said shiftable members, said front plate carrying indicia associated with the length of each window registering with a guideway for dividing the length of the window into stations corresponding to the successive days of the week, said manually shiftable member disposed in each guideway carrying an indicia whereby as the shiftable member is moved longitudinally of the guideway the indicia thereon may be brought into registration with the station corresponding to each day of the week mounted upon said front plate, each guideway being fashioned to receive a coin or other prize therein, which coin or other prize is adapted to be moved along the guideway by said manually shiftable member, until the indicia thereon occupies the station indicated as corresponding to the last day of the week, when the prize or coin will be ejected into said common guideway and will be thence delivered to the operator exteriorly of the support and front plate.

6. In a device of the class described, in combination with an elongated rectangular support, means forming a series of guideways extending in parallel spaced apart relation longitudinally of and parallel to the long side of said rectangular support, a chute connecting with the ends of all of said guideways, a cover having a series of windows corresponding to the number of guide- Ways and adapted to register therewith, said cover plate covering the chute, said cover plate being provided with a space opposite the beginning end of each Window for the name of a child, said cover plate having associated adjacent and parallel to the length of each window a series of numerals spaced apart the length of each guideway and designating the days of the Week, and a shiftable member mounted in each guideway and having seven subdivisions thereon corresponding to the days of the week, each subdivision carrying a suitable indicia, means associated with said shiftable member for propelling the same longitudinally of each guideway by a child selecting said shiftable member, said guideways and manually shiftable member providing competition in the manner of behavior among the several children operating said shiftable members, each guideway being fashioned to receive a prize therein adapted to be propelled along the guideway by the leading edge of said longitudinally shiftable member and the front edge of said longitudinally shiftable member carrying an indicia word such as "prize or equivalent word, whereby as any selected shiftable member is moved to the end of its guideway said prize will be discharged into said common chute and discharged to the particular operator for whom such guideway is designated.

EDWARD P. SHURICK, SR. 

